What happened after I found the CREST Document

What happened after I found the CREST document?   When I uncovered the CREST file linking Chicago Aerial Industries (CAI) to CIA reconnaissance work, I realized I wasn’t just holding another piece of the puzzle — I was holding what many investigators would call a smoking gun.

For decades, CAI was described as a simple camera manufacturer. But the CREST document proved something very different: The CIA was tracking CAI’s reconnaissance technology at the highest levels of the intelligence community, and evaluating their cameras for the CORONA spy satellite program.

That revelation changed everything.

The Complete Picture: Mike Brickley at CAI

Mike Brickley wasn’t just a Navy and Air Force veteran working for a camera company. He was a field technician for Chicago Aerial Industries, the manufacturer of the KA‑46 and KS‑87 reconnaissance cameras — the very systems installed in every RF‑4C and RF‑101C aircraft flying out of Shaw AFB during the Vietnam War.

CAI held classified contracts with both the military and the CIA. Under those contracts, Mike traveled to bases across the country to install, maintain, and calibrate reconnaissance camera systems — and to train military personnel in their operation.

In late 1967, he was sent to Lowry AFB in Colorado, the Air Force’s reconnaissance training center. There, he had access to aerial photographs from Vietnam and a specialized camera lens — items he later gave to his friend, my father Ed to keep safe.

By April 1968, Mike was assigned to Shaw AFB in Sumter, South Carolina, home of the Tactical Air Reconnaissance Center and the 363rd Tactical Reconnaissance Wing. These were the units flying combat reconnaissance missions over Vietnam using cameras built by CAI — cameras Mike himself serviced.

And then, on April 28, 1968, Mike was dead.

The Lie in the Newspaper

The local newspaper reported that Mike worked for Donaldson Aircraft — a company that does not exist. Not a typo. Not a misunderstanding. A deliberate substitution.

Someone hid the fact that the dead man worked for the company whose cameras were inside every classified reconnaissance aircraft at Shaw AFB.

Why?

That’s the question I began chasing the moment I finished reading the CREST document — and it’s the question that continues to drive this investigation forward.

Where the Investigation Goes Next

The CREST discovery didn’t close the case — it opened it. It forced me to re‑examine:

• the accident report that vanished

• the signatures on the death certificate

• the missing informant

• the wrong employer listed

• the personal items that disappeared

• the closed casket

• the tattoo that wasn’t there

• the reenactments that still divide the family

Every one of these details looks different now that CAI’s intelligence ties are confirmed.

Next week, I’ll share the step I took immediately after the CREST breakthrough — the part of the investigation that led me to question not just how Mike died, but why the truth was buried.

This story is only beginning to open up.

As this investigation continues to unfold, I’m reminded that much of what I’ve uncovered — including the CREST discovery and the intelligence ties behind Chicago Aerial Industries — forms the backbone of my book, Shadows Over Sumter. If you’ve been following these posts and want the full story, the reenactments, and the evidence that shaped my search for the truth, the book brings all of these threads together. And with each new discovery, the picture becomes clearer. There is still more to uncover, and I hope you’ll stay with me as we continue to piece together what really happened in 1968.